Ramirez happy with team's trajectory

The Kings' Matt Greene, right, holds up the Stanley Cup at Dodger Stadium before the Dodgers' game with the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday. , KYUSUNG GONG, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

LOS ANGELES – It was about three hours before Tuesday’s game at Dodger Stadium when Hanley Ramirez spotted a crowd of reporters waiting to speak to Manager Don Mattingly in the Dodgers dugout.

Often spontaneous, the Dodgers shortstop plopped himself in the middle of the scrum, totally impromptu, and held court, half-jokingly answering questions about himself and his All-Star candidacy and then about the trajectory of his team’s season.

He said, most notably, that the Dodgers’ fortunes are undeniably on the upswing as they entered the game against the Colorado Rockies winners of three of their last four.

“It’s different now,” Ramirez said. “You can feel the difference.”

Asked if the difference involved the Dodgers having more fun as a team, with dugout dance parties after home runs and imaginary selfies after big hits, Ramirez laughed.

“It’s about time, huh?” he said. “I thought I was the only one. It’s what we need. We need to start having fun.”

Ramirez recently looked at statistics from the rival San Francisco Giants and noticed only one of their starting position players holds a batting average better than .300 – center fielder Angel Pagan.

That, he said, was evidence that the Dodgers don’t need to be focused on individual performances.

“You win as a team,” Ramirez said. “If you play together, you play with each other, it doesn’t matter if you underperform.”

Ramirez also said Mattingly got through to his players after the Dodgers ended their last homestand with a 4-6 record. Asked if he connected his speech with the team’s improved performance, Mattingly deflected.

“Honestly, you’d like to think your words have something to do with it, but I really don’t,” Mattingly said.

Ramirez was playful, telling right fielder Yasiel Puig to feel lucky Ramirez wasn’t the Dodgers’ manager. And when his interview time stretched into the team’s scheduled stretch, he said not to worry.

“If you’re with Puig, you’re fine,” he said, pointing to the 23-year-old who hadn’t yet started stretching.

Later Tuesday, Ramirez exited the game when he was hit in the right hand by a hard liner from Rockies outfielder Corey Dickerson.

He appeared to be in significant pain and left the field after examination by Dodgers director of medical services Stan Conte.

Ramirez has had problems with his right thumb in the past, including March 2013 surgery, but the injured area Tuesday looked like one of his other fingers.

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